Switcheroo
by Nyakai
Summary: Freakishly AU. Zuko is the firebending Avatar, Aang is a prince, Sokka can waterbend and Katara... can fly? Everything has been switched and no character's role is safe.
1. The Boy in the Iceberg

**Disclaimer:** Avatar and everything else I mention in here or any quotes from random places are not mine. This goes for the whole story. You sue me and I send a whole girl scout troop of sabretooth moose-lions after you.

**a.n.** Okay, please review! I want to know what people think and if I should continue through the season. And if you want to know how the story really goes, check it out on youtube. That's where I'm rewatching the ep.s for reference. (ZizzoKojin doesn't know me and will probably never read this, but I must thank the dude for being the only one to upload the first two episodes… yeah.) On with the story.

Book One:  
**Water**

Chapter One:  
**The Boy in the Iceberg**

It was a pleasant day in the Southern Water Tribe. The sun was bright, the sky was clear, and two siblings took advantage of the mild temperature to go fishing for the family.

Sokka and Katara sat in their canoe in a calm patch of water surrounded by icebergs of varying sizes. This was the farthest they had been out from home on their own, but they had been following an uncommonly fast school of sting fish. Now, they had finally caught up with the fish.

Sokka removed his gloves and held his bare hands out. His building concentration was shattered when he heard his sister's loud scoff.

"You are _not_ going to waterbend them into the boat, are you?" she commented. Katara's arms were folded across her chest and an annoyed look dominated her features.

"Maybe," replied Sokka innocently. "Hey, I gotta practice somehow."

"How about on your own when _our dinner_ isn't at stake? In all the times I've gone fishing with you, your wonderful bending has only helped _the fish get away_!" With a huff, Katara picked up Sokka's spear and shoved it into his hands.

"Jeez, what's gotten into _your_ fur hood?" he muttered loudly. In response, Katara wiggled one foot, showing the rope tied to her ankle. The other end of the rope was fastened to Sokka's canoe seat.

"Hey, that's for your own safety," her brother said with a superior nod of his head. "You'd fly off and drown yourself. Besides, you chose to come." He leaned over the side of the boat, spear in hand, and skillfully began searching the waters.

It was no secret in the Southern Water Tribe that Katara could fly. It wasn't anything extraordinary anymore, either. When she had turned thirteen, she and the rest of her family had discovered her powers of levitation, which had turned into all-out flying. At first, Katara was injuring herself about once every few days, but since then she had learned how to control her strange powers and was often the one sent to do quick errands.

Sokka ignored his sister's attempts at freeing her ankle because in all the years he had been tying those tiger-monkey knots, Katara had never been able to undo it.

"Kinda wish you hadn't handed over the spear so soon, huh?" he chuckled.

The girl folded her arms across her chest again, mumbling, "Just fish."

Several minutes and unsuccessful stabs later, Sokka again reached a hand out. Lifting it higher, he saw a large bubble rise a few yards away, a fish circling inside.

"Hey, hey, Katara! Look!" he cried victoriously. He banged the spear on the side of the boat for her attention. Katara's eyes widened.

"Wow, Sokka. You… actually got one."

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

Before he had brought it much closer, a seal-shark broke through the surface, caught Sokka's fish in its mouth and dived back into the icy sea. As the water calmed, all that could be heard was Katara's fit of laughter. Her brother fumbled for an oar as she began wiping tears from her eyes.

"It's not that funny!" he snapped. Sokka began viciously stabbing the water, following the scattered fish. "Don't just sit there– grab an oar and help! They're on the move!" Calming down, Katara snatched up her oar to assist and the canoe instantly sped up. Sokka, who was in front, gave a groan.

"They're getting away!"

"Well, why don't you use your powers and make us go faster?" chided his sister. Just as the boy rested his oar across the boat, it gave a lurch and was nearly spun around. Katara clung to the sides to keep from being tossed overboard.

"Not so fast!" she cried.

"It's not me!"

Their little canoe was being pulled along by a strong current, and all of Sokka's fierce strokes weren't enough to free them. Katara's oar had already been lost and she was clinging to the boat for dear life as they zipped by potentially dangerous icebergs.

"Get us out of here, Sookkaaa!" The canoe gave another lurch as it was caught between two floating ice slabs, and as it was being crushed, the siblings were tossed out onto the ice. Katara again cried for her brother when the boat started drifting away, pulling the tied girl with it. She helplessly clawed at the ice, only succeeding in capturing handfuls of snow. Sokka ran over, spear in hand, and sliced the rope clean through. They both fell onto the ice and sat up slowly, afraid to look at their departing wreck of a canoe. Katara dusted the snow off her sleeves as she looked at her brother.

"Well, that went horribly." The girl watched him as he stood. "I ask you to waterbend and you get us into an insane current. Wouldn't dad be proud?" The sarcasm dripping from her words was so thick that she could have packed it into a ball and hit Sokka in the face with it.

"What?" he cried. "After all that talk about how I shouldn't bend earlier, you suddenly want me to be a master?"

Katara rested an elbow on her knee and propped her chin in her hand. "Would've helped."

Sokka pulled at his hair. "You are _unbelievable_!" His arms started flailing as he finally vented his building rage. "Why didn't you just _fly_ away, huh, bird girl? You think you're so fancy-shmancy, hopping around, but when I have a _real_ talent, you don't seem to give a polar pelican-bear!" The water behind him tossed and writhed as if some sea spirit was about to unleash his wrath. "Well, I have had it, missy!" An iceberg behind him started cracking from the water level up, each splintering noise more ominous than the last.

"Sokka..." the girl whispered, wide-eyed. Her brother ignored her.

"You just don't want me upstaging you, is that it? Here I am, an actual bender, ooh-aah, and all you can do is fly. So you're out to make it look like flying is better than bending– isn't that it? _Isn't that IT_?" he accused, starting to jump with anger. The iceberg behind him kept cracking and some pieces had already started falling into the water.

"Well, no longer, Katara! As of _right now_, I–" His sister jumped up then, grabbed Sokka's shoulders and spun him around to see the great, crumbling iceberg. He was silent for a moment, expression frozen and shoulders drooped. Finally, in a much quieter voice he spoke up. "Um… would… would you mind flying us out of here–"

Suddenly, the iceberg let out a heart-stopping crack as the large, topmost spire of ice toppled over into the water. Giant shards splintered from the sides and followed the first spire into the water, adding to the waves. The siblings dropped onto their stomachs and clung to the edge of the ice, somehow successfully riding out the waves.

When the avalanche had stopped and the waves started to calm, Katara looked at her brother. "Done?"

"Yeah," he nodded. They stood up, glancing back at the iceberg that was broken in half, now much further away. Sokka shaded his eyes.

"Hey… does that look… _hollow_ to you?"

"A hollow iceberg?" Katara scoffed, but looked anyway. "What would you say if I said yes?"

"I'd say fly me over there, 'cause I'd wanna check it out."

"Then nope– looks perfectly solid to me!" She quickly spun around and before Sokka could grab her, a thick, bright blue beam shot up from the iceberg, reaching impossibly high and visible to anyone within numerous miles.

----

One of those within the numerous miles was the one and only Prince Aang, standing on deck of his ship, the S.A.N.S. _Appa_. The cold sea air lashed at his bald head, but he wouldn't get a hat. That was not an option. His uncle was currently wearing all the hats on board and would not share.

But his freezing head was instantly forgotten when he saw that blue light. He couldn't even guess how high it went, but it seemed to last forever.

"Uncle!" Aang shouted, turning around. "There it is! I have found him! Finally!"

"Oh?" croaked the old man from behind a large scroll. The only thing visible was the stack of hats looming over the parchment. "I don't see Waldo anywhere. Oh, is that–? No, not him. I can't believe you spotted him so quickly. This is an especially hard one–"

"Not Waldo!" Aang cried, slapping his forehead. "The Avatar! I have found the Avatar, Uncle Bumi."

"Is that so?" Bumi questioned, setting the scroll on his lap and gazing at the boy with his crazed stare. "And how are you so sure?"

"That light– don't you see it?"

"Sorry, I was busy finding Waldo." Bumi picked up a cup of tea on a small table next to him and took a swig, watching the blue beam his nephew was pointing to. "But why do you think it's the Avatar's light?"

"It's incredibly powerful! Only an incredibly powerful being could've conjured it!" explained Aang with a triumphant smile. Bumi blinked.

"I don't follow your logic."

Aang smacked his forehead before ordering his helmsman to follow the light. The prince folded his hands behind his back and slowly paced the deck. Soon, so very soon, he would have the Avatar. It would have to be a firebender since the last Avatar– over a hundred years ago– was the earthbending Avatar Toph.

Aang smirked. He had fought plenty of firebenders before. He would capture the Avatar and return to the Southern Air temple with restored honor and a butt-load of glory. Gyatso would come to respect the prince again. And, yes, Gyatso was neither king nor Aang's father, but since he was currently in charge of the whole thing, he was like a king and therefore people called him king. He didn't mind. He was originally Aang's mentor and tutor, and they used to be so close that he was like a father. So by association, Aang was called a prince. He proceeded to have that engraved on a two-by-four slab of pure, hard, heavy, shiny gold. Unfortunately, the gold was back in the temple and Aang had no way of getting to it.

"This is a great day!" the prince smiled, arms outstretched. A maniacal laugh issued from Bumi.

"You're telling me! I just found Waldo!'

----

Sokka and Katara landed on the fresh slope created by the ice avalanche. The boy had finally coerced his sister into flying him over to check, and once they set foot on the iceberg, Katara held up the only remaining oar like a baseball bat. Sokka had only taken one step before a figure crawled out of the hollow inside, the left side of his face glowing blue. When the blue faded, the lights in the sky faded as well. The stranger collapsed and rolled down the slope, only stopped when he rolled into the siblings' legs.

The kids stared at him in wonder; he wore Fire Nation clothes and he was bald except for a ponytail near the top of his head. But what really caught their attention was the scar covering half the left side of his face.

"Think it's dead?" Katara whispered, repeatedly poking the stranger with her oar.

"He was just up and walking, wasn't he?" questioned her brother in a normal voice. Katara pushed the Fire Nation boy with her oar so he flopped on his back.

"Let's hit it with a rock!" she cried with so much enthusiasm that Sokka took a couple of steps away from her.

"Yeeeah… you go look for a rock, and when you find one, you can clobber the guy," Sokka said seriously. Before Katara could wander off, the stranger gave a weak moan and slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sokka asked, kneeling next to him. The Fire Nation boy looked as if he were half asleep.

"I… think so. But for some odd reason, I have this overwhelming urge to… go penguin sledding."

"Evil!" Katara shrieked and brought the oar back like she was getting ready to whack the stranger. Her brother quickly jumped up and slipped between Katara and her intended target. He grabbed the oar handle, wrenched it out of her hands and pointed in a random direction.

"Go find your rock."

Katara gave a mutinous huff and folded her arms across her chest, but stayed where she was. Another moan, much deeper than the newly awakened boy had given, emanated from inside the iceberg, capturing the attentions of both Water Tribe siblings.

"What was that?" Sokka croaked. Katara suddenly popped up behind his back, screaming, "Evil!" right into his ear. The stranger jumped up and pawed his way to the top of the iceberg.

"You're up!" he shouted happily, staring at something inside the crater of ice. He hopped in and slid down to the bottom while the siblings circled around the iceberg until they found a ground-level opening. They found the boy helping an elderly man, also in Fire Nation regalia, to his feet.

Sokka made to approach the strangers but his sister held him back, clinging to his arm. "Don't! You don't know where they've been!" she cried in a low, ominous voice. She quickly piped down when both Fire Nation strangers neared them.

"Sorry," the boy began, "I never introduced myself. I'm Zuko and this is my flying ride, Roku."

"Really?" questioned Sokka, eyebrows rising. "This is Katara, my flying sister. And I'm Sokka of the Southern Water Tr–" He was silenced by a swift slap to the back of his head by his sister.

"Don't tell them _everything_!" she chided. Again, she pulled on Sokka's arm. "Let's go! It's getting late!"

"We can give you a ride," Zuko offered politely. Katara fought back a scream.

"Are you sure he can carry all of us?" Sokka asked slowly, eyeing the lanky Roku with disbelief. Zuko laughed.

"Of course! He could carry a fully-grown sabertooth moose-lion!"

"But… is he okay with that?" questioned the Water Tribe boy.

"He doesn't talk. He just flies me around," Zuko said with a shrug. "That's how it's been all these… y-ye…" The boy's head jerked a little and he immediately gave a powerful sneeze with large, searing flames shooting from his mouth. The siblings jumped back. Zuko rubbed his nose sheepishly.

"Bless you," a wide-eyed Katara automatically said, clinging to her brother even more. Sokka, however, laughed.

"That was so totally awesome, dude! You're a firebender!"

"Yeah… didn't I mention that before?"

"Don't worry. We here at the Southern Water Tribe accept all types. …Except airbenders… and rabid fan girls." One of Katara's high pitched "Evil!"s echoed off the iceberg's walls.

"Please stop that," Sokka said, rubbing an ear.

Somehow he and Zuko managed to talk Katara into riding with them and all three climbed onto Roku's back. Surprisingly, there was room to spare. Zuko grabbed a couple locks of the man's thick, long hair and slapped them like reigns.

"Okay, Roku, yip yip!" The old man gave a large leap, arms and legs stretched out, and for a moment appeared to be flying. But then he crashed into the water and floated there. Zuko advised everyone to sit cross-legged to avoid getting wet.

"Um… is he okay?" Sokka asked, staring at Roku, who had been face-down in the water the whole time.

"He'll be fine," Zuko said in an unbothered tone. And so they headed back to the Southern Water Tribe.

----

"Well," Bumi announced, stretching, "I'm hitting the hay." As he did a toe-touch, a sickening crack came from his entire back. Aang, who was all the way on the other side of the deck, heard it and spun around looking concerned.

Bumi merely stretched his back next, saying, "That feels better." The prince gave a roll of his eyes and returned to watching the horizon. They were nearing that source of light, though long vanished, and Aang wouldn't move until they had arrived.

"Good luck with Avatar hunting, and considering your family's record, you'll need it! I mean, all the men up to your great-grandfather completely blew it. Too bad half of those guys aren't still alive so you can rub their noses in it…"

"Weren't you going to bed?" Aang cut in impatiently.

"Was I? All right, if you say so. G'night." As Bumi left, the prince rubbed his forehead, wondering how he got stuck with the old man in the first place. He was an earthbender, no way related to the airbending Gyatso. Maybe Gyatso had just as much tolerance for Bumi as Aang, so Gyatso shipped them both off together to be rid of both of them. Aang wouldn't put it past the "king." But like Bumi said, once the Avatar was captured, Aang could rub Gyatso's nose in it.

----

The Water Tribe kids were bored. They had been sitting on Roku's back for the longest time and still weren't home. And for that entire time, their ride had been face down in the water, though Zuko repeatedly told the siblings Roku was fine.

"So, if you're a firebender," Sokka began, leaning out from behind his sister, "do you know what happened to the Avatar?" At that, Zuko gave the longest, most high-pitched girly scream either of the siblings had ever heard. The echo that followed, bouncing off all the surrounding ice, sounded more like a pitiful, dying animal. The Water Tribe kids blinked.

"Um, I mean… why would you ask that?" Zuko said, clearing his throat.

"Well, one: for filler conversation, and two: the Avatar would have to be a firebender and _you're_ a firebender, so…" Sokka gave a nonchalant shrug. Zuko started to sweat a little.

"No! No, I don't know anything! Why are you looking at me like that? Don't you believe me?" He scrunched up and his eyes grew big and watery so he resembled a helpless animal.

"Evil…" Katara snarled, eye twitching.

"Hey, dude, chill! Hakuna Matata… it was just a question."

"Hakuna… Matata?"

As if on cue, the siblings broke out in song. Their explanation song of "Hakana Matata" was so weird and frightening that after only a few minutes, Zuko blacked out, completely missing his scripted dream sequence.

----

"Think it's dead?" a feminine voice whispered. A scoff responded.

"You _know_ he's alive!" a boy protested. "He was talking to us like twenty minutes ago."

"Let's hit it with a–"

"Leave, Katara!"

Zuko opened his eyes to see the furry face of Roku staring at him. The Water Tribe siblings had no clue why the man didn't drown out there since he was face-down in the water for the whole nearly hour-long journey. Zuko smiled and began petting Roku's head.

"Oh, you're up," Sokka said, reentering the hut. "I hope my sister didn't wake you. I had to keep her from killing you in your sleep, but now you've gotta fend for yourself. Just saying." He gave a shrug. "So, wanna meet the village?"

Zuko sat up in his little cot and stretched. "Are they anything like your sister?"

"No."

"Then okay."

Sokka was going to say 'she's normal compared to them,' but decided against it. Instead he led Zuko out of the little wintery hut and into the middle of what would perfectly represent a Tribal Water Hick Tribe. Everyone, even down to the kids, had Southern Water Tribe war paint on and was watching the firebender hungrily.

"Tribe, Zuko. Zuko, tribe. Tribe, no eating Zuko." At that, the newcomer jumped.

"Uh… eating?"

"Yeah," sighed Sokka in more of a frustrated tone than anything else. "We've been trying to revert them from their cannibalistic ways, but it's been a long two weeks."

"They've only been non-cannibals for two weeks?" sqeaked Zuko.

"Yeah, but they're making great progress," Sokka replied with a proud smile. The firebender glanced around and noticed Katara with most of the children by the snow walls. She seemed to be instructing them how to hit things with large rocks.

"So…" the boy began, looking back at Sokka, "you and Katara. Were you two ever–"

"No way, man!" the brother interrupted, waving his hands quickly. "That's incest! Another thing we're trying to steer our village from."

Zuko's good eye twitched. "O… kay. I really don't want to know anything about that. I _was_ going to ask if _you_ two were cannibals." Sokka visibly gulped.

"Is… uh, is that really important?"

Zuko took a step away from the boy.

"How about we never speak of this conversation ever again?" the brother suggested with an awkward glance around.

"Sounds good." The patter of feet drew their attention as all the village children approached. At Katara's shout, they all pelted the firebender with large stones. Giggling at their successfully completed mission, they hurried back to Katara.

"Not bad," she told them. "But next time aim more for his _head_. Remember your drills, now."

Zuko coughed nervously. "Uh, Sokka… does your sister hate strangers or firebenders or just me?"

"It's hard to say. Sometimes she's always like–"

"PENGUIN!" Katara's voice rang throughout the miniscule village. "Take up your rocks, children. Target practice!" She pointed to the outskirts of the village– not more than six feet away– to a four-winged penguin, blinking with innocent curiosity. All the children grabbed up the biggest rocks they could carry and staggered toward the arctic animal.

However, Zuko was faster. He sent several fire blasts from his fists and the penguin flopped to the ground, completely black. The kids all dropped their rocks and ran screaming and crying back to Katara.

"Dude, what'd you do that for?" Sokka asked with a disgusted look.

"The little kids were going to kill it anyway! Besides, penguin is Roku's favorite food." Suddenly, Roku dashed past everyone on all fours, picked up the penguin in his mouth, and carried it off out of sight. The children's bawling intensified.

"They weren't going to kill it," Sokka protested, rubbing the back of his neck. "They couldn't hit the broadside of an Air Nomad warship– and they've tried… we have one stuck in the ice nearby. That penguin has been coming to the village every day for a few months to play with the kids."

"They _played_ with that thing?" Zuko cried in disbelief.

"Every day."

"Wait, if their aim is as bad as you say, how could they hit me?" the firebender asked above the children's crying.

"Well, they were close and you weren't moving. But seriously, you should _ask_ before killing anything around here." All of a sudden Sokka was pushed back as a plump, bent old woman squeezed her way in between the boys.

"Hey, do you have a permit for penguin poaching?" she asked in a surprisingly husky voice. Zuko staggered away from her with a frightened expression.

"Oh, this is my grandmother, Chica," Sokka introduced.

"And _you_," the grandmother shouted, poking Zuko in the gut, "are a Bob murderer! There must be justice!"

The firebender looked helplessly from the crazed woman who barely reached his elbow to Sokka. "Who's Bob?"

"The penguin."

Chica started poking Zuko in the gut even harder, ignoring his harassed cries of protest. "Listen here, you whippersnapper! I know you're a firebender and you come from a cruel nation, but leave your cultural habits before coming into this village! No more penguin-frying without a permit, kid! If anything, go after those little runts over there." The woman pointed to the crying children soaking Katara with their tears. Before Chica left, she poked Sokka's gut. "How is it you're the only normal bender around here?" As she creaked off, Zuko stared at the Water Tribe boy.

"You're a waterbender?"

"I dabble," Sokka replied with a modest shrug.

"Your grandma's not a bender, is she?" questioned Zuko nervously.

"Nope, you're looking at the only waterbender in the entire Southern Tribe. Yeah, no pictures please."

"Good… she's scary enough. Doesn't she know that we firebenders are some of the most caring, generous, and environmentally aware people in the world?" Zuko said with a pathetic expression.

"Chica doesn't get out much."

All of a sudden, the woman popped back up, poking Zuko in the gut, who could barely get out, "Where'd she come from--?"

"And, sonny, I'd like to see your flying license and boating license and animal permit! Are you a real Fire Nation citizen? Let's see your green card!" Poke, poke, poke.

It took all of Zuko's resolve to keep himself from burning the woman. "Licenses? Permits? For what?" Chica pointed to Roku, who was only just returning with a red beard. All the children began a second wave of crying.

"That animal of yours!"

"When I got Roku, we didn't need any of those things," the firebender protested, but upon seeing the woman's determined glare, he sighed. "Fine, where do I get those things?" Chica glanced about suspiciously before opening her fur coat. Inside were many pockets with all kinds of jewelry and small, handheld weapons on one side and all kinds of papers and foreign items on the other.

"Let's see…" she mumbled, checking random pockets. "Hunting license fishing license, elephant koi riding permit, no, no, no… iPod, cell phone, su-do-ku handheld, nooo…"

Zuko looked back to Sokka, wide-eyed. "Your grandmother's a scammer?" The Water Tribe boy didn't look a bit surprised.

"By day." He then put a hand on the old woman's shoulder. "Chica, is'nt there some way Zuko can make it up to everyone _without_ buying anything?" The woman closed her coat, looking perturbed.

"Demonstrate how you can use your powers for good instead of evil," she said slowly.

"I killed a penguin! That's it! That's not evil! That's just a Circle of Life kind of thing– Roku's gotta eat, too," Zuko cried, waving his arms like a madman. If he had had hair, he would have been pulling it out right now. "Y'know… Hakuna Matata."

Chica turned to her grandson, still looking perturbed. "Do you _have_ to share that load with everyone?" Sokka only whined defensively and Chica looked back to Zuko. "Show you're a good firebender or you'll be dinner."

Zuko paled. "I thought you said they were non-cannibals!" he said to Sokka. The boy laughed nervously.

"Yeah, but I forgot to mention that Chica here heads the resistance movement and they're… um, out to eat the non-cannibals."

Before the grandmother could poke him anymore, Zuko took a great leap backwards, inhaled deeply, and sent one large, glowing fireball after another into the sky. They collided with each other and exploded in ear-shattering blasts. The children even stopped their blubbering to watch.

"Ooh, aah," the village cooed in unison.

"Fireworks, not bad, kid," Chica muttered after Zuko had sent up a dozen fireballs. "But I still want to see your green card."

----

Prince Aang was perched on the side of the _Appa_, scouring the waters below. He had his trusty flying stick in hand, ready to open it at any moment. Bumi, who was in the middle of the deck, finally noticed his "nephew."

The earthbender had been asleep, reclining shirtless on a chair with two broadswords crossed at his neck to reflect sunlight. The temperature had to be barely above freezing (degrees Fahrenheit) and the man could only conclude that it was perfect tanning weather.

"Whatcha doin', kiddo?" he called suddenly. Aang nearly fell off the side he was so startled. Luckily, he regained his balance.

"Trying to catch fish."

"But I thought you were a vegetarian– oh, that's right. Fish aren't meat. What was I thinking?" he laughed.

"No, I'm seeing how quick I am. That firebending Avatar has had a hundred years to master his skill… and I'm just an adorable twelve-year-old airbending prince. How else will I pwn him if I can't even catch fish?"

"Oh," nodded Bumi. "I don't see how fishing is any sort of respectable training for fighting the Avatar, but good luck. Eh… y'got a fishing licnese?"

All of a sudden, bright, loud explosions erupted in the sky not too far away, startling Aang so much that he fell overboard. He quickly flew back up, crying, "What was that?"

"Fireworks," grinned Bumi. "Those Water Tribers know how to throw a party!" Aang scratched his head, gazing at the smoke trails pointing toward the ground. He assumed a thoughtful yet mysterious pose.

"That's no firework! That's the bending work of a firebender. And not only do I smartly suspect it's the Avatar, I know exactly where he is! Booya!"

----

Yep, that's all of part one. What did everyone think?


	2. The Avatar Returns

Book One:  
**Water**

Chapter Two:  
**The Avatar Returns**

Aang stood in the armory of the Air navy warship as soldiers attended to him. They attached his armor, his arm and leg protectors with his insignia, and his breastplate of telltale Air Nomad craft. The prince's helmet was handed to him, a dark metal with a bright blue arrow down the middle.

"How close should we go?" a masked soldier questioned. Aang donned his helmet.

"Park right in their front yard. I'm a prince. I shouldn't have to walk anywhere."

----

"Wow," Zuko gasped. "So I've been in that iceberg a whole honkin' hundred years?"

Sokka nodded. "Yep. Sounds like it."

"And like… ten seconds after Roku and I froze, a war broke out?"

"That's how it appears," the brother replied with a Sherlock Holmes–esque pipe in his mouth– found in one of Chica's pockets.

"Wow," Zuko said again. "I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years!" Sokka arched an eyebrow.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Just then, Chica darted over to her grandson, grabbed the pipe from him and stuck it in her coat.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Stop pick-pocketing!" With a huff, she returned to the rest of the village.

Zuko waited until he was sure Chica was out of hearing range before whispering, "She's not still mad about the Bob incident, is she?"

"Nah," Sokka said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Give it a couple more minutes and she'll have forgotten about you entirely." Zuko instantly appeared relieved.

Katara waddled over to them then, all the little face-painted children clinging to her. "Okay, kiddies. Go to Uncle Sokka." She peeled two younglings from her skirt and pushed them toward her brother. However, the moment she let go, the children wheeled around and reattached themselves to the group.

Sokka folded his arms across his chest, smirking. "See why I didn't volunteer for the job of teaching them to be warriors? They turn into Klingons."

Zuko began awkwardly stretching his fingers, saying, "I've never been able to do their hand sign thingy."

"That's the Vulcan sign, you twit," snapped Katara with a glare. Sokka began pushing kids away right and left to get to his sister, and it looked more like he was swimming. But when he reached her, he patted her shoulder.

"Come on, now, he's our guest." All of a sudden the boy began bouncing to a beat in his head. Hand motions followed, resembling a Carlton dance. "Be… our… guest! Be our–" Katara clapped a mittened hand over Sokka's mouth.

"Like Chica said, don't dump that load on everyone."

"Does anyone else hear that?" Zuko suddenly spoke up. The siblings quieted, listening, and even the moat of children around Katara fell deathly silent. They all heard cracking ice, constantly nearing.

Every face in their small group turned to watch the sea and there, though the haze, a large shape appeared. Even though it was still too far away to be recognized, the sheer size of it made all their eyes bulge. Instantly the children detached themselves and ran screaming back to their mothers.

Paling, Sokka looked back to the firebender. "And exactly how long have you heard them approaching?"

"Five minutes or something," Zuko said slowly. At the siblings' alarmed expressions, he added, "But I thought it was just the ringing in my ears from that 'Hakuna Matata' song!"

Katara was positively seething. _"Twit!"_ she shouted before stomping over to the huddled group of villagers. "Warriors, assemble!"

"What _is_ that?" Zuko called over the noise as the steel mammoth broke through the tiny village wall.

"An Air Nomad warship," replied Sokka bleakly. One of Katara's "Evil!"s echoed behind them. As much as she tried, the girl could not get the mothers to part with their young. All the women hastened to hide within the protection of the animal skin tents on the other side of the village– a whopping nine feet away.

"Chica, wait!" Katara called. The woman stomped a foot, muttering something about being too slow, and returned to her granddaughter.

"You've got a minute, kid. Shoot."

"What do I do? Should I go or should I fight…?"

"You can fly, your brother and that boy you dragged hom are benders… so odds are, someone's gotta do something right." The woman quickly dug through her pockets and pulled out a sharp boomerang.

"Isn't that Sokka's?" Katara asked suspiciously.

"This is battle– no one cares. Fight to the last, child. Show no fear!" Chica began edging toward the tents. "And even if everything goes wrong, martyrs are remembered!" With that, she zipped out of sight.

By now, Sokka and Zuko had backed up next to Katara and all three watched as the ramp to the ship crashed to the ground. A group of armored men descended, the shortest one in the lead. They were watched by the entire village. Everyone who wanted to hide was poking their heads out of the tents, and the three kids could've sworn they heard bets being placed.

"I'm searching for the Avatar!" announced the airbender in front once they had reached the ground. "He would be about _that_ old and ugly," he said, pointing to Chica. "Master of all elements. Maybe you've seen him? I know he's here– you can't hide him!" His voice kept cracking throughout his tirade, making the women in the tents giggle.

Suddenly the boy caught sight of Roku, who was sprawled out on the snow near the hut and biting his ankle. The boy pointed. "That's him, men! The firebending Avatar!"

Before the soldiers could advance, Zuko shouted, "Wait! What are you going to do to him?"

"Take him on our ship and deliver him to King Gyatso in the Southern Air Nomad temple," the kid replied self-importantly.

Zuko took one last, quick glance around the puny village and his eyes landed on Chica, who was eyeing the enemy soldiers hungrily. He needed no further convincing.

"It's me! Me, me, me! _I'm_ the Avatar!" the firebender shouted, leaping forward and waving his arms. The enemy looked far from convinced and the Water Tribe siblings looked flabbergasted.

"You?" scoffed the boy. "You're just a scarred teenager." He took off his helmet and ran a hand over his smooth head, arrow and all. "I, however, have been training and meditating and posing for this encounter. It is my life's destiny to pwn you!"

"C'mon, kid, you haven't even hit puberty yet," Zuko said with a pitying stare.

"Puberty? Who's that?" laughed the airbender, _"yo mama?"_

Zuko staggered back as if he had been speared. "Oh, no he di'int!" With an insulted scream, he sent a whip of fire snapping for the boy, who evaded it by hopping on an air scooter.

Katara and Sokka, well out of harm's way, exchanged glances.

"Think we should help?" Katara asked hesitantly. Her brother pushed her forward.

"After you, warrior bird girl."

With a huff, Katara readied the boomerang and charged, Sokka calling, "Hey, that's mine!" The Water Tribe girl ran straight for the giggling boy who was still evading Zuko's attacks. She took aim for the airbender's head and flung the weapon with all her might. However, Katara had the worst aim in all the village. The boomerang sailed through the air scooter and as it curved to return to the girl, it whacked all the soldiers in their helmeted heads. The airbender flopped onto the snow and the boomerang shot past Katara and landed right in Sokka's path barely missing stabbing his foot.

Zuko ran up and kept his enemy on the ground with his foot. His fists wree flaming as he growled, "Take it back!"

"Never!" squealed the boy. "Stop stepping on me!" His voice continued to crack.

"Say uncle!"

"UNCLE!"

----

Bumi was up on deck juggling the two broadswords he had been using for tanning. He heard his nephew's familiar wobbling cry and let the swords clatter to the ground.

"Is that his hungry cry or his attention cry?" he muttered to himself. "I can't tell anymore." He peered over the side of the ship and saw a firebender with a foot on Aang, the airbending soldiers staggering to their feet, and then… _her_. The most beautiful lady he had ever seen in all his travels across all four nations. Bumi propped his elbows on the side of the ship and just stared.

----

Katara nudged her brother. "Hey, is that guy up there staring at Chica?" Before Sokka looked for himself, the siblings noticed Zuko helping the intruder to his feet. The boy dusted himself off.

"So, you coming with us?"

"Yep. Oh, wait– Roku." Zuko took off jogging for his ride. The airbending boy gasped.

"Men! He's getting away! Stop him!" he shouted, pointing. The group of soldiers did fancy airbending moves, though not in sync with each other– and one soldier ended up doing the worm. But when they all stopped (and the belly-flopper had gotten to his feet), a tornado sprang up, small but powerful. It sped over, sucked Zuko up and high-tailed it for the ramp.

"Nooo!" a voice shouted from the vortex. "Roooku! Be goooood!" The soldiers followed the tornado into the ship, leaving the boy by himself. He donned his helmet and looked important.

"Ladies, gentleman," He acknowledged, slowly backing up. "You will always remember this as the day you _almost_ defeated Prince Aang." The water siblings blinked.

"Kid, you were totally defeated. Zuko had you pinned down for like a minute," Sokka replied, folding his arms across his chest.

"Oh yeah? Well, look who got captured!" Aang shouted. Katara giggled at how much the boy's voice cracked.

"Only because those soldiers caught him for you," said the brother. Aang royally stomped a foot.

"Well… you're just… arctic trash!" Katara squealed indignantly at that, rushed toward her brother and plucked up the boomerang and again threw it at the prince. It made a wide circle around the boy, not even within an arm's length of him. The weapon again nearly stabbed Sokka's foot. One of Aang's eyebrows twitched and he quickly sent a stream of air snapping for the Water Tribe girl, smacking her in the forehead several times.

"Hey!" shouted Sokka. "You shouldn't treat a lady… er… you shouldn't treat her like that!"

With a huff, the prince spun around and marched back up the ramp, muttering to himself. The ship closed and a screeching beep emanated from it as it backed out of the village and the ice. The women and children slowly came out of the tents and watched the warship sail away. They were all silent for a while, until the ship had completely disappeared from sight. Chica's gaze drifted across the village and landed on Roku. She rubbed her mittened hands together.

"Ooh, we're going to eat good tonight!"

However, no one else in the village felt like eating. They slowly began repairing the minor damages while Sokka trudged to the edge of the ice. Katara hurried off, but within five minutes was back, only to find her brother hadn't moved.

"We should go after him," Sokka said to his sister. "It's only fair. He saved our village."

"Although that's too bad for Chica. She was betting he would lose right away."

"Wait, she was _for_ the airbenders?" Sokka cried. Both turned to see a sad Chica paying other villages with miscellaneous junk from her coat. The brother shook his head.

"Katara, I know you didn't like him–"

"What was your first clue?"

"–but a rescue mission should be attempted–"

"What he don't know won't hurt him."

"–because he would do the same for us." Sokka finished with a nod and his sister gave a lopsided grin.

"Well, I figured that out waaay before you and now I feel really, really _smart_." She tugged on her brother's sleeve and slowly dragged him along the ice bank.

"Um… what?" Sokka asked as Katara stopped. She pointed to the water. There, waiting, was the family's secondary canoe. Her brother looked amazed.

"Where'd you find it?" he questioned, approaching to inspect it. Katara grinned.

"Well, on a hunch I checked Chica's storage hut and found it. I also found this." She pulled Sokka's club out from behind her back. He gave a shout as he swiped it from her.

"I've been missing this for about a year! What else did you find in there?"

"Oh, pretty much everything we've ever lost in our entire lifetimes."

Sokka arched a brow. "Is Chica a klepto–"

"What are you two doing?" their grandmother croaked, popping up next to the siblings and making them jump. The brother immediately hid his club behind his back.

"Uh… nothing. Just… going after Zuko."

"That boy is bad news, kids!" Chica warned with a piercing glare. She brought a gnarled cane out of nowhere and shook it at them. "He's into all kinds of _illegal_ things! He has licenses for _nothing_!" She quickly put the cane away somewhere inside her coat. "But meh, if you _do_ save him, don't bring him back here."

Katara clasped her hands together. "Can we go to the North Pole with him?" She started bouncing with excitement. Chica shrugged.

"Sure. Have fun."

Sokka looked at his sister quizzically. "Where did _that_ come from?"

Katara ignored him. "Chica, you're so old– I mean… you have so many years of experience. Do you have any words of wisdom for us before we go?" The woman scratched her moley chin.

"Wisdom? Hm… okay, I got it. Don't talk to strangers."

Katara's smile flopped. "That's it?"

"What else do you want, kid?" she wheezed. Her grandchildren exchanged glances.

"Oh, I don't know, Chica," Sokka said. "Maybe some _wisdom_?"

The woman watched them suspiciously. "How much is it worth to you?" At that, Katara's clasped hands dropped to her side and her jaw fell slack.

"You're our _grandmother_!" she cried. Chica looked around quickly and waved her hands to shush the girl.

"Not so loud! People will hear!"

"Chica, they already know!" added Sokka quickly. "They've pretty much known that little fact since we were born." The woman looked disappointed for a moment, then seemed to shrug it off.

"Okay, wisdom… don't lick doorknobs."

"Chica!" Katara whined.

"Whaaat? You get what you pay for." Sokka smacked his forehead and dragged his hand down his face.

"You know what? Let's just leave," he said, tugging at his sister's sleeve.

"No, wait, wait, wait." Chica fumbled through a pocket and brought out a fortune cookie. She cracked it and read the fortune through a mouth full of cookie. "The greatest danger could be your stupidity."

Sokka pointed to his sister. "That's yours." Chica tossed the paper on the ground and checked another pocket. She pulled out _Poor Richard's Almanac_ and flipped to a random page.

"Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

"That wasn't a bad one," Katara admitted, but was already being pulled toward the canoe. Their grandmother once again stashed the book and glanced at the siblings thoughtfully, her eyes finally clear of schemings.

"A small pond-skipper can not swim with, much less overtake, a seaworthy vessel. To save the Avatar, you'll need something better than a dinky old canoe." The siblings exchanged glances.

"Did she just say something coherent?" Katara asked her brother, who wore a shocked expression.

"I know chasing after a warship is too much flying even for you, dear," she said tenderly to her granddaughter, "so why not take that… man… the Avatar brought with him?" Sokka stepped out of the canoe.

"Wait – after all that hassle you gave Zuko about permits and licenses, you _want_ us to take Roku?"

Chica again searched through some pockets inside her coat and pulled out a whole stack of IDs, permits and licenses. Each was a thin, rectangular stone shard with information chiseled on one side. Surprisingly, they weren't counterfeit. The siblings passed each new stone back and forth, inspecting.

Katara spoke up, "But we have to apply for these, take tests, recite rules, pay money–"

"Forget all that. Just don't look suspicious if you get cau– _money_, did you say?" croaked Chica, her normal, beady-eyed, greedy look clouding her eyes.

"Nope," Sokka said quickly, stuffing all the licenses into his pockets. "I didn't hear her say a thing." He grabbed Katara's hand and pulled her back toward the village. "See ya, Chica, we're going to the North Pole!"

They found Roku asleep on the snow next to the hut entrance and managed to herd him to the sea. Again, he flopped face-down into the water and made no move to surface.

"That can't be normal," Katara sighed in disgust, but sat behind Sokka on Roku's back.

Chica watched and waved until the kids were a great distance away. Then, she let out a joyful _whoop_! "Finally!" she exclaimed, pulling the canoe onto the snow. "I thought for a moment they actually would take it. Gotta hide it better this time…"

----

"Uncle, here is the Avatar," Aang announced proudly once upon deck. Bumi was still staring dreamily off the side of the ship. His only response was to give a love-sick sigh.

"Uncle! The Avatar! Here! Right here!" the airbender called, arms waving frantically. Bumi continued to ignore him.

"Oh, fine," growled Aang, pulling his helmet from his head. He turned to the five soldiers surrounding one very dizzy Zuko. "See if he has anything of value. If it's shiny, it's _so mine_! If it's junk, I'll give it to Gyatso." The prince checked his fingernails boredly as the soldiers turned out Zuko's pockets. Surprisingly, his Fire Nation outfit had quite a few pockets, most of which held Kleenex– some fresh, some used– gum wrappers, and movie ticket stubs.

Aang picked up one of the stubs as his guards were patting Zuko down. "You went to see the Lion-Tiger-Bear King? Pfft."

"Sir," one of his soldiers spoke up. "He had this in a pocket." The guard held up a deck of playing cards, which the prince quickly confiscated. He opened it and flipped through the deck.

"What does the Avatar do with these?" he asked Zuko directly. "Set them on fire and _throw them_ at people?" The prince started cracking up.

"Actually..." Zuko said, holding his head. He had a dazed look in his eyes. "Why… why were you going through my pockets?"

"To see if you were packing heat," Aang said, shrugging.

"Seriously?" questioned Zuko. One of his fists was suddenly engulfed in flame. "Still wondering?" The fire died out once the prince jumped back.

"Take him away! Take him away!" he cried. The soldiers led Zuko to a stairwell leading below deck and pushed the firebender down the stairs. Once they were all below, Aang went over to his uncle.

"Watching for the enemy?" questioned the prince. Even though he tried he couldn't tell what exactly Bumi was looking at. The earthbender didn't give a reply.

"Are you… coming up with tonight's menu? Last night's penguin was superb," Aang said with a smile of remembrance. Bumi only sighed, staring unblinkingly back the direction they h ad come.

"Think up new Jeopardy questions? The crew loves your games." Still, the uncle gave no reply. Aang reached his last resort: annoyance. He began poking Bumi while calling his name in an unusually squeaky voice.

About a minute later, just when Aang was growing hoarse, the earthbender seemed to snap out of it. It took him a moment longer to realize he was being repeatedly poked in the ribs.

"Hey, ow, ow– ow! Stop it!" Bumi shouted, pushing his nephew away. "What d'ya think yer doin', disturbing an old man when he's sleeping?"

"You were… sleeping? Standing up? And with your eyes open?" Bumi shuffled uneasily.

"Yeah… and what of it?"

His nephew put a hand behind his head and laughed nervously. "Nothing…"

"And why do you always pose like that? Stop it– you're twelve years old already. It's embarrassing," Bumi said, shaking his head. Aang clasped his hands behind his back and started rocking on his heels.

"So… catch any of the Avatar action back theme in the Tribal Water Hick Tribe village?"

"Nope," the uncle replied without a hint of regret. "I missed it." Aang immediately brightened.

"Really? Well in that case– I completely _PWNED HIM_! Just like I said I would! He was all like _bshoooo_–" the boy imitated a firebending move, very poorly at that, "and I was all like _zip, zip, zoom_–" he made his air scooter, hopped on, and started wheeling all around the warship deck.

"So, he's shooting at you and you're running from him. How'd you beat him?" Bumi asked. Aang was all the way on the other side of the deck, laughing rabidly, when he heard his uncle and all of a sudden his scooter was snuffed out. He dropped to the steel floor but got up quickly and brushed himself off stallingly.

"Oh, uh… I just kept evading him and… he… ranouttagas. Kinda."

Bumi exploded in a fit of laughter. "A _firebender_… running out of _gas_?" He bent over and slapped his thigh. "Ah, well. It's not like they're good for anything else."

From the stairwell leading below deck came a steel-reverberated, amplified cry, "We firebenders are caring, generous, and _ENVIRONMENTALLY. AWARE_!" Zuko leapt up the stairs and landed on deck. His hands were free of bonds and none of the airbending soldiers were following him. Aang gave a great jump and landed next to Bumi. With a huge smile, he motioned to the firebender.

"Uncle, the Avatar!"

The earthbender stared boredly. "Seriously? He's just a kid. Are you sure that's not his nephew or dog-sitter or paper boy?"

"No, _he's_ the Avatar. Amazing, I know. But seriously, now we've got him and–"

All of a sudden a burst of flame shot between he two, extinguishing itself on the steel sides of the deck. Both jumped back, wide-eyed.

Bumi pointed to Zuko. "Hey look. The Avatar!" He looked from the mad firebender to his nephew, who appeared as if he was getting ready to create an air scooter, and cleverly deduced a fight was going to break out. He shuffled along the edge of the deck, muttering something about not wanting to miss an important thing he couldn't remember at the moment. He zoomed off further into the ship.

At first, Aang thought that was incredibly OOC behavior, but was soon too preoccupied to think about his uncle. Zuko, fists ablaze, approached with the most irritable expression the prince had ever seen.

"Y-you've already escaped the guards and scared off my uncle," Aang called, almost accusingly. He really wasn't afraid of the teenager, but dang. That death stare of death was freaking him out. "What are you gonna do now?"

"I'm going to Disney Woooorld!" Zuko shouted as he lunged forward. The fire he sent at the prince was evaded as Aang wheeled around deck on his air scooter. His laugh strangely resembled a roadrunner's "meep meep!"

The firebender cried out in frustration. "Kid, stand still!"

"You can't make me!" laughed the boy. "Can't touch dis!"

"Sick… would I _want_ to touch you? I just want my cards back."

----

Katara and Sokka were scanning the waters from above, searching for Zuko. The siblings had finally urged Roku to fly about twenty minutes previous and he had been flying (face-down) ever since. Because both Water Tribe kids never doubted the man's ability to fly, it would've been no use writing about their non-surprise the moment he finally lifted out of the water.

"There!" Sokka called, pointing to a small dark shape in the water.

"How do you know it's the warship?" his sister asked. Suddenly, flames erupted and seemed to spread across the entire deck.

"That's so Zuko," the boy said, trying to steer Roku down toward it.

Katara gave a scoff. "Oh, please. They could be having… a fire drill."

"Ah," Sokka nodded. "So Zuko's a drill instructor, too? Cool." Katara just snorted and folded her arms across her chest.

----

As the two benders on the deck of the S.A.N.S. _Appa_ fought, Aang happened to look up and see a speck in the sky, constantly growing.

"U.F.O!" he shouted, pointing. "Bigfoot! _Nessy_!" Zuko whirled around to look.

"It… a bird… no, a flying cow. Wait– it's Roku!" The firebender gave a shout and began waving. Then he was bowled over by a blast of air. Quickly he looked back to see Aang slowly approaching, looking angry.

"Oh, so people are gonna help you escape?"

"I dunno. Maybe. But kid, I just want my cards back. They were a gift," Zuko said as he got to his feet. The prince brought the pack of cards out from inside his shirt.

"Oh, really?" he asked, again opening them and flipping through them. "From who?"

"No one you know."

Aang threw his head back and shouted, "INTOLERANCE!"

"I think you mean 'insolence.' Just a guess," Zuko shrugged. With an enraged snarl, the prince shoved the cards back in their box and threw it to the side, his airbending shooting it over the side of the _Appa_.

"NOOOO!" shouted Zuko, lunging after them. By the time he reached the side, the cards had already splashed into the water. Zuko emitted a high-pitched shriek and dove off the warship.

"Noo!" a girl's voice cried from the air. Sokka looked behind him at his wide-eyed sister.

"Uh… you're _sad_ he fell overboard?" Katara clasped her hands in her lap and looked guilty.

"I didn't say that," she replied quickly. "I was… speaking for Roku."

----

Zuko searched the dark waters frantically for the pack of cards. The day before he had been frozen in the ice, they had been given to him by… well, he forgot who had given the cards to him, but it was someone important. And now that annoying prince had tossed them into the water and he. couldn't. find, it.

Zuko's scar glowed blue and water began swirling around him. It lifted him up and out of the water and far above the _Appa_. Aang, who was taking a victory lap around the deck on his air scooter, stopped and gawked. His enemy was in the middle of a tall water funnel, still looking angry. The Avatar began pelting the deck with massive water blasts, leaving Aang to scurry all over on his scooter. Zuko landed on deck and used up all the water from the liquid tornado trying to hit the squirrely airbender. Finally, with his last shot, he hit Aang square in the chest, knocking him to the wet ground.

"Ow," the prince muttered. "No far… you had junk in that water. That's like throwing ice in a snowball fight." He picked up Zuko's pack of cards from the floor next to him. The firebender, still glowing, marched over and held out his hand.

"Give them back," he demanded in many Avatar voices. Aang obeyed. Zuko stuck it safely in his pocket and stared at the prince. "Ice-thrower." Then, the blue faded and he collapsed on the deck.

"Ha," Aang muttered feebly. "I have pwned you again."

"Oh yeah?" Sokka called as Roku landed on the deck near Zuko. "We saw the whole thing and you completely _lost_ again, kid. Stop lying." He began dragging the Avatar back to Roku and Katara came to help.

"Yeah!" she shouted. "So keep your pwns off him!" Just as they got Zuko flopped over Roku's back, the five airbending soldiers jumped from the stairwell on the deck. Katara pointed.

"Sokka, waterbend!" The boy grinned.

"I'm all over this!" He stood facing the soldiers, closed his eyes and felt the water on the deck and did some crazy hand/arm motion. When he looked up, the soldiers were untouched, for the water had gone in the exact opposite direction. Behind him, Prince Aang was frozen up to his neck on the floor.

"And you said _I_ have bad aim?" scoffed Katara, getting on Roku behind Zuko. Huffing, Sokka jumped around, closed his eyes, felt for the water and flung it again. He looked back at the soldiers and yay! They were all frozen.

"Come _on_!" Katara shouted when Sokka began doing a Water Tribe victory dance. The boy hurried over and hopped on Roku's back in front of Zuko and with a "yip, yip!" they all went flying away. Conveniently, that's when Bumi walked back on deck.

"Uncle!" Aang croaked, "stop them!" Bumi squinted at the departing mass.

"I never expected to see a flying cow in all my life," he said, rubbing his eyes.

"Shoot them down!" shouted the prince, voice cracking. The earthbender looked around quickly and hobbled over to Aang. Placing a foot on the ice encasing him, he made a punching move and it jumped into the air as one glittery, deadly slab. The prince was freed. With a poetic earthbending body movement, the ice was sent hurtling toward the flying Roku.

Katara cried out when she saw it coming, loud enough to wake Zuko. He bounced up and surprisingly kept his balance on Roku's back. With a shout, he threw two fistfuls of fire at it, right over Katara's shrieking head. The giant ice slab was hit and sent off course, right into the side of a huge ice wall. An avalanche followed. Of course. And it completely buried the front part of the S.A.N.S. _Appa_, much to Aang's chagrin.

Bumi gave a low whistle. "I've gotta learn that move. Pretty fly."

"But he's getting away!" whined the prince, stomping a foot. "Look at all the damage!" The uncle looked for a moment as if he cared, then turned to leave.

"Yep. Have fun cleaning. I'd help if I could, but I'm needed elsewhere… the captain just brought out Dance Dance Palooza."

----

Zuko and Sokka had switched seats once the Water Tribe boy claimed he couldn't take any more of the Avatar's "back seat driving." Since then they had flown in silence, but Katara soon leaned around her brother.

"Hey… how'd you do that with the water? That's something Sokka could _never_ do!" Her brother glared at her at that.

Zuko shifted and looked back at her from his scarred eye. "There is a perfectly simple, awesome, heavily quoted explanation for that… I just don't know it. But that waterbending _was_ pretty awesome, wasn't it?"

Sokka shrugged. "It was okay. But why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" Zuko fell silent for a moment, as if slipping into sad awoken memories.

"Because I never wanted to be."

Katara gave an overtly loud scoff. "Oh, cut the melodrama, you twit! The world needs you to put an end to this war, so just suck it up, cork your angsty-ness, master water, earth and air and be the stupid hero." Zuko was going to whine in an angsty way, but decided against it upon seeing Katara's dangerous look.

"You can go to the North Pole and master waterbending," Sokka spoke up quickly. "Or… so I've heard." Zuko seemed to brighten.

"Sweet! We can learn it together."

"We'd be an airbender bustin' waterbendin' duo!" Sokka added with a fist pump into the air. Katara glared at the both of them.

"And what about me?"

"You'll be there," her brother said. "Just uncredited. Y'know, like a background person."

Zuko grinned. "And on the way we can ride hopping llamas and giant koi fish and hog monkeys!" Sokka fumbled about in one of his pockets.

"Ooh! I've got the giant koi riding permit from Chica!"

Katara just stared blankly. "Ugh… boys."

------

That's the end of the pilot episodes. And what did you all think? (i.e. Review, people!)


	3. The Southern Fire Temple

**a.n.:** Disclaimer from first chapter still applies here. I own nothing of which I write about! NOTHIIIING!! Anyway. I took awhile in updating, didn't I? But I do want to let you all know that college is a kidnapper and this is the longest chapter yet. So deal. :3

----

Book One:  
**Water**

Chapter Three:  
**The Southern Fire Temple**

The sun lazily drifted above the mountainous land in the distance that formed the high walls of a bay. The calm water shimmered and sparkled under the new light and the sound of an old, flute-like woodwind could be heard, though no one knew where it was coming from.

"Evil!" screeched Katara. She was stomping around the perimeter of the group's campground with Sokka's club, beating at bushes and dense foliage. The music, beautiful and melodious as it was, had freaked her out and she vowed to find the source of the noise and pummel it. It had begun about five minutes earlier as everyone began packing up.

"And it's _not_ a bird!" the girl shouted to her brother.

"How do you know?" he called back as he secured some of their meager supplies onto Roku's back. That was a bit of a challenge since the flying man was standing up.

Katara pointed the club behind her. "'Cause I just got the only bird around here." She glanced suspiciously around before resuming her hunt, mercilessly whacking the bushes. Zuko gave a nervous cough.

"So… ready to see the Fire Temple?" he asked Sokka. "It's one of the most beautiful places in the world." The Avatar donned a worried look when Katara suddenly began marching his way, club ready to strike.

"You!"

"Now whaaat?" whined the firebender pitifully. He looked like he was about ready to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness for anything.

"Not you, you twit! _You_!" Just as Sokka finished tying supplies onto Roku, his sister shoved him. "The freakish music is coming from you!"

"It is?" Even faster than Sokka could look down at his body, Katara had snatched all the contents of his one pocket and dropped them onto the ground.

"Careful! All those permits and stuff can break!" he cried. Katara browsed over everything and stopped at something the size of a license but much different. She poked it with the club and it opened; the music stopped.

"Who is this!?" a familiar voice shrieked. Everyone jumped back.

"Chica?" Sokka questioned, staring at the strange device with amazement.

"Sokka?" came the husky voice. "You thief! How many times have I told you to stop pick pocketing? Of all the things to take– my _cell phone_!?"

Katara gave a shriek and repeatedly slammed the club on top of the phone, breaking it into uncountable pieces. She looked up at the two boys who also looked a little scared of the contraption.

"Chica must've given it by accident when she handed over all the permits…" Sokka said. After a pause, he turned to Zuko." So, you were saying?"

Zuko brightened instantly and continued as if he had never been interrupted. "Oh, just that if every place was like the Southern Fire Temple, no man would ever feel unwanted."

It took a moment for this to sink in, but once it did, Sokka gave a start. "Katara! We're going to the temple! Now! Pack up, we're setting off!"

His sister was busy smashing the cell phone pieces into smaller particles, muttering "evil" repeatedly under her breath. Zuko took a chance of being beaten and dove for the licenses. He gave a sigh of relief that Katara didn't notice him and returned the stone slabs to Sokka.

"Come ON!" called the Water Tribe boy. He stuffed the permits into his pocket and climbed on Roku's back behind Zuko. With an animalistic growl, Katara followed. She stopped right next to the boys, arms folded across her chest.

"Where are we going?"

"The Southern Fire Temple!" chirped Zuko, wearing the biggest grin either of the siblings had seen yet. Katara looked around.

"What are we doing in the Air Nation, then?"

"I don't know why a Fire Nation temple was built in the Air Nation, either, but it was, and we're going to visit it. I need to restock my postcard supply..."

"Fine, but I'm flying on my own." The girl swung the club over to Sokka, nearly taking off his arm. Then she started a series of spastic stretching.

"No," her brother said once the club had been put away, "you're coming on Roku with us."

Katara stopped in the middle of a stretch, one hand behind her head and the other around an ankle. She whined. "Aw, come on! Roku's…_weird_!"

"But he's a better flier. And while we're in the Air Nation's Soviet Air Space, you're riding with us." With a huff, Katara grumpily sat behind her brother looking as mutinous as possible. Zuko stared on with awe.

"She actually _listens_ to you?"

"Yeah," Sokka said with a proud smile. "It's not all that often, but when the time comes, I put my foot down and she obeys me." At that, Katara kicked him in the back.

----

The S.A.N.S. _Appa_ was docked at the northernmost Air Nation dock on the Southern Water Nation continent. There were many other warships lined up there, and in comparison, the _Appa_ looked small and insignificant.

Prince Aang strutted down the ramp, Bumi following. The uncle, nearly twice Aang's height, had to walk at a much slower pace than normal so as to stay behind the prince. When walking, Aang had two rules: no one in his party gets ahead of him and no one throws off his strut. He absolutely did not tolerate his strut being thrown off, since, as he loved to boast, it took him years to perfect his princely strut.

So Bumi carefully shuffled behind the short prince.

"I want these repairs made as soon as possible," Aang dictated once they had reached the ground. "I don't want to stay here too long and risk losing…" he leaned closer to his uncle, "_you-know-who's_ trail." The prince gave several suspicious glances about before acting far too cool for the circumstances.

"We were trailing Voldemort?" Bumi questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"No!" cried Aang. "The Avatar!" His uncle clasped a large, gnarled hand over his mouth– and it ended up covering half his face.

"Well, don't say his _name_!" the earthbender hissed. They both took a moment to glance around again before Bumi removed his hand. Aang wheezed and gasped for air.

"Once word gets out he's alive," the man continued, "ever bender and his mother's rattlesnake-monkey will be out looking for him AND his flying cow!"

"I know," replied the boy, looking slightly repentant. "And I don't want anyone getting in the way–"

"Getting in the way of _what_, Prince Aang?" a voice interrupted from the side. Both turned to see a stout man approach. He stood not much taller than the prince and wore Fire Nation regalia.

"Captain Iroh," the boy nearly spat. The old man stopped in front of them, looking pompous, which was quite a feat for him because he was always told how jolly he looked, even when he was mad.

"It's _commodore_, now."

"Don't you mean 'commander'?" Aang corrected with an arched brow. Iroh sneered– another feat.

"No, I don't. And… Bumi," he acknowledged, bowing slightly.

"That's _King_ Bumi to you," the uncle said briskly with a royal dusting of his shoulder. Iroh looked quizzically over to Aang, who just shrugged.

"He's been saying that for awhile now."

"Not that it was never to be expected," the commodore commented with a shrug. "It's not like everyone in the royal family isn't not not after the throne."

Aang's eyes widened, remembrance dawning on him. "Yeah? Well… it's not unlikely that non-royalty not unlike yourself don't not want the throne, either." Iroh gave a superior chuckle.

"You're not completely un–"

"Stop it!" Bumi shouted, stomping a foot. Luckily they were on a steel dock, else a whole lotta earth would've been moved. "_Must_ you two talk in negatives every time you meet? You're giving me a headache… grow up already!" He vented an annoyed growl as Aang and Iroh looked at the ground, abashed. The prince slowly scuffed a foot on the dock.

"Commodore, got anything to drink? I'm strangely in the mood… for tea," Bumi said. Iroh brightened, all the alleged jolliness he possessed flooding across his features.

"Yes! In fact I just prepared some Jasmine tea back in my office…" He spun around and began walking toward his quarters.

Bumi followed, saying, "Actually, I was hoping you had Ginseng."

"Do I have Ginseng?" parroted Iroh. "Ha! That's like asking if I want to kill the moon spirit!" Both Aang and his uncle snapped their heads around at that and stared at the firebender. One of Bumi's eyes twitched.

Iroh coughed nervously. "I mean… _yes_, yes, I have Ginseng." He and Bumi walked on as if nothing had happened and Aang was forced to follow.

----

Sokka glanced around as all three kids sat on Roku's back. They had been flying for awhile and that whole time Zuko had been chattering on and on about the temple. The Water Tribe siblings weren't even listening anymore. Just when the waterbender was about to nod off for the third time, Zuko gasped overly-dramatically.

"There!" he shouted, "the Batola mountain range! We're almost there!" He excitedly slapped the locks of Roku's hair he held like reigns and cried, "Yip, yip!" There was no change in the man's speed whatsoever.

Katara leaned around her brother to look at Zuko. "You know, after a hundred years of no one hearing anything from this temple, everyone's probably dead." Sokka whacked her head.

"Quiet! Don't destroy all his hopes!" At that, Katara's happy features dropped.

"Yeah, well, it's better he finds it out from us rather than out there! Airbenders are ruthless..."

"Nah," Zuko cut in, interrupting the siblings' quipping. "Just because no one has seen, heard or smelled any firebenders from the Southern Temple in like a century, it doesn't mean they're not there."

"...'Smelled?'" repeated Sokka with a raised eyebrow. Katara gave another scoff, leaning around her brother again.

"You may be in your happy little state of denial, but seriously, when have firebenders been known to hide away from the world? They're not all pansies like you."

"Ka-ta-_RA_!" growled Sokka, pushing her back behind him.

"Hey," she said, shrugging, "this is what you get for not letting me fly on my own."

"And no one else could've gotten up here to like... destroy them or anything," Zuko explained, "because the only way to get to the temple is on a flying man."

"That is so sexist!" squawked Katara. Before she could start insulting the firebender, as Sokka knew she would, he turned and clamped a mittened hand over her mouth.

Under Zuko's steering, Roku began a steep ascent up the side of one mountain. The wind lashed hard against the group and the siblings were sure they'd be knocked off at any moment. Katara kept trying to fly away, but Sokka kept holding her down, even when she tried to kick him. Seeing as how she nearly fell off Roku when she did that, she didn't try it again. But then they leveled off and the wind stopped. The siblings sat up straight, looking like frightened little animals. Zuko was beaming.

"There it is. The Southern Fire Temple." Through the clouds a magnificent building could be seen, sitting atop a mountain. The temple of beautiful fire nation craft glittered in the morning sun. "We're home, buddy," he cooed to Roku. "We're home."

"In the Air Nation!" cried Katara. "Will someone please explain to me why a _Fire nation _temple was built in the _Air nation_?"

----

Commodore Iroh's office was a large, red tent with the Fire nation banner at the pinnacle, flying in the wind. Two Air Nomad soldiers in full armor were standing on either side of the door, looking tough. Inside, Iroh stood in front of a large map of the world, which he proudly had told his guests he painted. Bumi nodded.

"You looked like the finger-painting type."

"I dabble," Iroh replied modestly. "Anyway, by year's end, the Earth Kingdom capital will be under our rule and I shall play my victory song!" He looked back and saw Prince Aang sitting sulkily in one of the two comfy chairs in the middle of the room, and the Commodore joined him. "The Air Lord will finally claim victory when those earthbending hicks lose."

Bumi, who was inspecting a rack of sharp, deadly weapons against a wall, gave a laugh. "You'd think I'd be a little upset by that, but I'm not."

Aang ignored his uncle, putting on his most angsty expression. "If Gyatso thinks the rest of the world is going to follow him willingly, he's seriously trippin'." Iroh raised an eyebrow.

"Two years at sea have done little to temper your tongue… I think. I really don't know what you just said. But anyway. How's Avatar-hunting going?" A crash was suddenly heard from the weapons rack and both turned to see Bumi juggling two spears and a large ax. A mace had fallen from his grasp but he juggled on, completely oblivious to the others in the room.

Aang looked suspiciously like he was trying to hide something and averted his gaze when Iroh looked back at him.

"Have… you found something?" the Commodore asked quickly. Prince Aang gave a little huff.

"I guess I couldn't hide it forever." He pulled a scroll from his belt sash and handed it over to Iroh, who greedily opened it. A crowded drawing of people was on the inside. "I've found Waldo."

At that, all the weapons Bumi was juggling really did crash to the ground. "Waldo?" he cried. "WHERE?" He lunged between the two chairs, tearing the scroll from the Commodore's hands and trying to look at it as he tumbled to the ground. When he stopped rolling, he let out a sad sigh, "This is last month's edition; I've already seen it."

Just then a random air soldier entered, announcing, "Commodore Iroh, we interrogated the crew like you instructed. They confirmed Prince Aang had the Avatar in custody, but got pwned by him when he escaped."

Iroh looked back at the prince, who was curled up in the chair, trying to hide himself and his embarrassment. Iroh grinned.

"Random soldier, play my victory music!" With a mutinous expression, the air soldier brought out a Walkman and pressed play.

_"Oh, oh, oh, get in the action, feel the attraction. Color my hair, do what I dare. Oh, oh, oh, I wanna be free yeah, to feel the way I feel. Man! I feel like a woman!" _

Bumi, sitting in the middle of the floor, and Aang, peering out between his fingers, were both staring wide-eyed and scared at the fire Commodore. Iroh coughed with embarrassment. "Wrong victory song…"

----

The small group had landed at the base of the Air Temple and Roku was now stretching. The Water Tribe siblings were looking around at everything in amazement before Zuko popped up between them and started pointing to everything.

"That's the landing pad for all the flying men, that's where my friends and I played _fire ball_, that's the little emergency room we usually had to go to after each game, that… well, I really don't know what that is," the firebender said, looking at a tangle of crafted metal.

The three slowly progressed up to the temple as Zuko pointed out and explained everything. Just as he paused to catch his breath, Katara noticed something shiny in the snow nearby.

"Oh, look," she said, pointing, "an Air Nation he–" Sokka whipped around, covered her mouth and dove behind a snow bank, dragging her with him.

"What are you doing?" Sokka hissed.

"What are _you_ doing? Didn't Chica make it clear to you you're not a spy? You almost messed up my hair…"

Zuko looked around blankly when he finally noticed the siblings weren't there. "Guys?"

"He thinks the Air Nation couldn't have gotten up here. If he finds out, he'll be devastated," the brother explained quickly. Katara just arched a brow.

"He might get his feelings hurt. Boo hoo," she replied with sarcasm that made Sokka wince. "He should know the truth."

"He can't handle the truth!" the waterbender cried in a whisper.

"Oh, what's the worst that could happen? Scarred for life? Thousands of coins in therapy bills? That's not so bad."

Just then, Zuko peered over the snow bank and saw them. "Oh, there you guys are… alone… back there." He looked at Sokka. "Uh… didn't you say you weren't into incest?" Katara jumped, then punched her brother in the arm.

"You told him about that?" Both boys' faces paled and Zuko quickly said, "Okay anyway! There's someone I want you two to meet." The siblings exchanged unbelieving expressions, but got to their feet and followed Zuko, making sure to stay more than an arm's length away from each other.

The firebender stopped in front of the temple where a stone statue sat, the face worn away from a hundred years of weather. The Fire Nation clothing and hairstyle, though, was still clearly etched into the rock.

"This is my teacher and mentor," Zuko explained. "Seifu Ozai." He gave a respectful bow and Katara whispered to her brother, "He knows that's a statue, right?"

All of a sudden, the area grew hazy and the Water Tribe siblings saw a younger Zuko standing on a balcony next to Ozai, though the man's back was to the kids. Katara gave a scream and clung to her brother's arm.

"What _is_ this?"

"A memory… maybe?" he replied with a wide-eyed, confused expression.

"Then why are _we_ seeing it?" his sister questioned in a whisper.

"Maybe it's an Avatar thing…"

"Evil…"

The younger-looking Zuko was smiling up at his teacher, saying, "So what are we going to do today? Make gooey cakes and fling them at monks?" It sounded like Ozai was strangling a boar-hyena, but the scared siblings rightly guessed he was chuckling.

"No, Zuko. That sounds like fun. But as a firebending master, all I know is death and destruction!" More choking boar-hyena sounds. The boy looked put out for a moment, but he quickly brightened.

"There's a new merchant visiting here with a cart full of cabbages!" He pointed to the little wagon below, its owner nowhere near it. Both mentor and student created balls of fire and threw them down. They hit the intended target with a fair-sized explosion, an even louder sound, and produce raining down on the temple.

"My cabbages!" a distraught voice cried from somewhere below.

"Your aim is improving," Ozai said, ruffling Zuko's hair. However, when he withdrew his hand, both noticed the boy's hair was on fire. By the time it was extinguished, Zuko was completely bald except for some hair in the back.

"Well, bald could be a style, too," the man said, not at all sounding sorry.

"I was thinking of cutting it, anyway," Zuko replied, fighting back tears of pain and trying not to choke on his outright lie. The firebenders bowed to each other and everything grew hazy again. The Water Tribe siblings couldn't tell if this was the end of the memory or if all the smoke from the cabbage cart had finally reached the balcony.

But then Ozai returned to his statue form and everything grew lifeless again. Zuko still seemed to have the same, sad expression, though, as he stared at Ozai's eroded face.

"You must miss him," Sokka said sympathetically.

"You must miss your hair," chirped Katara, still clinging to her brother. All of a sudden, the firebender seemed to cheer up and continued on to the temple doors. The siblings stayed where they were, watching him walk that three or four foot journey. On the door was a tight tangle of pipes with only three openings, one at the top and two at the bottom of the mess. All three kids seemed to study it for awhile before Zuko looked back at them.

"Aren't you going to ask me anything? Like why I want to get in… or how I'm going to get in?"

The Water Tribe kids shook their heads. "No."

With a shrug, Zuko turned back to the closed doors. He slowly swung his arms and exhaled in what looked like some kind of firebending tai chi. After a moment of motionless silence, Zuko stretched his arms out, titled his head back and shouted, "Open _sesame_!"

Nothing happened.

"Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam!"

Again nothing, but somewhere out there, a pikachu was terribly offended.

"BAM!"

Please ask again later.

When Zuko was leaning on his knees catching his breath, Sokka approached to inspect the door. He looked it over carefully, rubbing his chin every now and again, then turned to the Avatar.

"Maybe… you need a key?"

Zuko shot up instantly, looking inspired, but was quickly struck back down when both boys heard Katara's taunting voice from behind: "Well, _duh_! _I_ could've toldja _that_. Come on, man, didn't you, like, _live here_ your whole life or something?" Sokka motioned for her to shut up, and before Zuko could look like a harassed little animal, the Water Tribe boy patted his shoulder.

"Don't listen to her. She was fused with a snapping turtle-penguin when she was a kid. But I have faith in you."

Zuko brightened. "You believe in firebenders?" Sokka began clapping his hands, but Katara just scoffed.

"I don't believe!"

----

Somewhere on the eastern shore of the Fire Nation, a bender gave a terrified cry, grasping at his chest, then keeled over. But he's not too important, so let's not dwell.

----

Sokka glared at his sister hard enough for her to put on an innocent face and wander away whistling. When he looked back at Zuko, he started enthusiastically clapping again until the Avatar looked cheered up.

----

Somewhere on the eastern shore of the Fire Nation, the bender slowly picked himself up, but then dropped to his knees and with outstretched arms shouted to the giant, blue sky, "I LIVE!"

----

Zuko rubbed his hands together and with a calculating gaze shot two fireballs from his fists into the bottom two openings of the pipe and breathed fire into the top hole. When the fire reached its destination at the center of the welded labyrinth, several gizmos and do-hickies turned and flipped and whatnot and without so much as a spark, the doors were unlocked. They slowly, noisily, ominously swung outward.

Sokka neared the Avatar once more, eying the dim temple warily. "For some reason, I'm terribly afraid."

"Yeah, that always happens. Just ignore the feeling," Zuko advised with an unbothered shrug. He proceeded into the temple with a bounce in his step. He even jumped and clicked his heels.

"What's in there?" Katara asked her brother, looking just as frightened.

"Death," he whispered. His sister balked.

"Seriously?"

"Come on, guys!" Zuko called unseen from inside, his voice freakishly echoing. "There's someone I'm ready to meet!" The siblings exchanged glances.

"That kid is seriously unhinged," muttered Katara mutinously. But the two followed him in, down the long, dim hallway and into the sanctuary where thousands of blue, life-size statues stood arranged in a line spiraling outward and climbing up the wall to an unseeable ceiling far above.

"Sokka," his sister gasped, clutching his arm yet again. "It's a freaky firebender cemetery! And we're next!"

----

Commodore Iroh snatched back the "Where's Waldo" scroll, but not before Bumi had drawn on most of the faces– not too artistically at that.

"I'm confiscating this," he said gruffly. He turned to Prince Aang, who was looking royally offended at having two airbending soldiers on either side of his chair, keeping him from escaping. The commodore cleared his throat. "I'm going to make this short: You're young and nobody cares about you. I'm taking over the Avatar quest and I don't care that you've been after him for two years. He's mine now." Iroh quickly exited the tent before the Prince started a hissyfit. Aang, however, stayed exactly where he was, still looking royally offended. The airbending guards left to stand outside, keeping the two inside the tent.

Bumi jumped up from the floor. "Well, if you're strangely not going to throw a tantrum, I've got to do something for the both of us." With a cackle, he brought out the marker he had used to scribble on the scroll and closed in on Iroh's bright and colorful wall map.

----

"These aren't dead people," Zuko said quickly. "Well… I guess they _are_ dead," he fumbled, looking at an Earth Kingdom man, "but this is no cemetery."

"There's a pattern," Sokka observed as he pulled away from Katara. "Air, water, earth, fire." His sister put her hands on her hips.

"And how do you know _that_, Mr. Smarty-pants?"

"Well, for one, their clothes," he replied, pointing. "Two," he pointed to their feet where their element was etched into a stone plaque.

"The Avatar cycle," Zuko spoke up. "They're … all Avatars."

"They're all you," added Sokka. "Or, _were_ you." Katara uttered a disbelieving scoff.

"Really, when an Avatar dies, he's reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle," Sokka explained.

"Wow," said Zuko, slowly walking by statues somewhere in the middle of the sanctuary. "You know a lot about this stuff." The siblings simultaneously began making their way toward him.

"What can I say? I'm smart like that," shrugged Sokka. He grew quiet when he found the firebender staring at the last Avatar in the line. "Who's that?"

"Avatar Toph. An earthbender," Zuko replied almost immediately.

"You just read the name plate," Katara said when her brother looked stunned.

Sokka slowly turned to her. "This one's got no name plate."

"Oh." She proceeded to look at Zuko as if he was a two-headed circus freak. When the firebender noticed this, he squeaked, "What? That wasn't weird!"

All of a sudden, something tackled Zuko to the ground so fast that the Water Tribe siblings started screaming "AIRBENDER!" at the top of their lungs.

----

Commodore Iroh jogged back into his office tent, his steps in time with the beat of the song he was playing on his Walkman. Suddenly he stopped when he noticed his beautifully hand drawn map. There were stick figure hunting parties in the Earth Kingdom (one figure nearly as tall as the country is wide), some kind of shark creatures in the waters, one of which was eating someone vaguely resembling him. He didn't even see the polar bears drinking some kind of cola in the Water Nations or the Fire Nation… on fire… with a strange dragon with one, muscular arm flying away. All the commodore now saw was red.

"I _was_ going to say you could come along with my search party, but not after this outrage! My guards will escort you to your ship once I'm so far out to sea that I hit one of those giant, out-of-scale _SHARK_-type animals that apparently inhabit these waters!" Iroh cried, motioning to the drawings.

Bumi innocently watched the firebender from the chair next to Aang's. The prince laughed. Or tried to. The evil laugh he had been working on for the past week still sounded too much like a squirrel-duck.

"I hope you _do_ hit those and I hope they sink your ship. Then you'll no longer be in my hair."

Now it was Iroh's turn to laugh. "What hair?"

Aang popped up with an indignant cry. "Maybe you'd like a haircut to match!" Iroh jumped and seemed undecided on whether to continue yelling or just punch the little bugger. He chose shouting.

"I don't know why, but I'm taking that as a challenge!"

"An _agni kai_. At sunset," replied Aang regally.

"Very well. You're goin' dooooown," the commodore said threateningly. He turned and stomped out of the tent, still to the beat of his music.

Bumi, who was now upside-down on his chair with his legs hanging over the back of it and his head dangling off the seat, gave a cackle and looked at the prince. "Hey kid, have you forgotten what happened the last time you dueled a master?" Aang pressed the back of his hand to his forehead and replied with too much emotion, "I will _never_ forget!" He slid his hand over the arrow on his head before returning to his seat.

----

By the time Sokka stopped crying "Airbender" and Katara stopped screaming "Bloody Mary" (long after Sokka quieted), they noticed it was a girl with a long braid on Zuko. Katara seemed to snarl.

"Hey, floozy. Off!" she shouted, snapping her fingers. The girl was startled and jumped and landed on top of the Toph statue before bolting toward the entrance.

"What– or who _was_ that?" questioned Sokka, helping the Avatar to his feet.

"A gymnast! I didn't think any of them had survived!" Zuko cried excitedly. Katara pushed up her coat sleeves.

"Once I get a hold of her, they _will_ be extinct!" With that, she took off running after the girl. Zuko and Sokka exchanged glances.

"Can she really hurt her?" Zuko asked quickly. The Water Tribe boy shook his head and gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

"As long as that gymnast can outfly her, Katara won't even be able to put a scratch on her." That said, Sokka turned his attention back to Avatar Toph, muttering something about "sexy mama." Zuko, however, paled.

"Uh… at the temple here, only the flying men flew. That's why we called them flying men. If the gymnasts could fly, they'd be called flying women… But they're not."

If Zuko's statement had not been so oversimplified, Sokka might not have caught it since he was deep in his own fantasy involving him and a certain earthbender. But he snapped back to reality.

"What are you just standing here for, man? Go save her!" he shouted. As if on cue, both boys took off running for the entrance.

When they reached the balcony as seen in Zuko's flashback, they saw the gymnast on the ground below, scurrying around almost in circles trying to avoid the flying Katara's dive-bombs. For a second, the guys paused to just watch.

"Wow, your sister can really fly," Zuko said with surprise.

"That's what they all say at first," Sokka sighed. Before the Avatar could reply– or complain about him being so cryptic– Sokka jumped off the balcony screaming.

If it had been a girly scream, Katara would've ignored it. But she recognized the scream of her brother and instinctually flew up to catch him. Meanwhile, Zuko called for Roku and flew down to where the gymnast was pouncing away.

"Wait, come back!" the firebender called once he reached the ground. "I can't save you if you're not here!" He jumped off Roku and sprinted after the girl who darted into one of the tents clustered near the emergency center. Zuko followed.

"Okay, _how_ did you fall off the balcony?" Katara questioned as she lowered her brother onto what she thought was a snow-covered hill. Really, it was an abnormally large snowdrift and Sokka sunk right through. He shot up and out of the snow, glaring at his sister, who shrugged innocently.

"Hey, where's what's-his-face?" Katara asked, looking around quickly. Sokka distractedly brushed the snow off his coat as he absently headed in the direction of the emergency center.

"I think he went this way." They followed the two sets of tracks to one decrepit tent and slowly entered. Although the gymnast was nowhere to be found, they saw Zuko kneeling in the center of the tent, shoulders slumped, head bent, and his back to them. His frame shivered with muffled sobs.

Automatically, Sokka covered his sister's mouth. They noticed a skeleton wearing Ozai's garb half-buried in the snow not far away from Zuko, and next to it was the armor of an airbender. Suddenly, Zuko's scar glowed blue and the air began to circulate about him, growing harsher by the second.

----

Temples in the Northern Water Tribe, somewhere in the Earth Kingdom, and further in the Air Nation all showed signs of the Avatar's power. At the Air Temple, a teetering old monk leaned out of the sanctuary and called to another monk, "Get the Head Elder! It's… a sign!" Not much later the Head Elder arrived out of breath to find a commotion in the sanctuary. When he was finally able to see the object of interest, he was so startled his teeth nearly popped out.

"What does it mean?" the monks asked, looking at the characters glowing on the wall. The Head Elder took a moment to collect himself.

"Contact the Air King," he announced. "The Avatar has returned!" Some set out to do this, but the majority remained.

"Are you sure?" some asked. Others questioned, "How do you know?"

"It clearly says: 'The Avatar has returned,'" the Elder said, pointing to each glowing word on the wall. The monks "ooh"ed and "aah"ed as if it had been magic.

----

Back at the Southern Fire Temple, the Water Tribe siblings could barely see Zuko anymore since he was now completely encased in a raging air bubble.

"I say we leave him to work it out on his own," Katara suggested above the raging wind.

"I say we help!" shouted Sokka. From inside his coat he pulled out a grappling hook and a long line of rope. "Accidentally snatched this from Chica before we left. Hold the end here." After she took hold of the rope, Sokka edged his way closer to the Avatar, swinging the grappling hook.

----

Prince Aang was down on one knee facing his uncle who was fanning himself with Aang's shirt as if he hadn't a care in the world. Yes, Aang was shirtless, as was Iroh, who was kneeling near a few of his soldiers on the other end of the makeshift fighting arena behind Iroh's office. Bumi also was shirtless, but only because he said he felt left out.

"Okay," he croaked with authority. "This geezer is _old_. If you picked your tune right, you can completely pwn him." The prince's face lit up at this. "Remember your basics." Aang stood, pulled the towel from his shoulders, dabbed his brow and dropped it in Bumi's hands. The prince and Iroh approached the center of the court, glaring daggers at each other.

Though the fight was last minute, many soldiers and crewmen showed up and bets were already being placed. Strangely enough, the favored victor was Bumi, who had created a reclining chair out of rock and was now trying to catch a nap.

Aang and Iroh bowed to each other. It had previously been decided through a coin toss that the commodore would go first. Aang instantly accused him of cheating even though it had been Bumi who flipped the coin.

Iroh raised his arms. "Okay, start the music!" From somewhere inside the tent, a boppy celtic tune blared because, of course, in the Air Nation, an _agni kai_ was a riverdancing duel.

…What were you thinking?

Aang whirled round, wide-eyed to face his uncle, who had also noticed. Iroh's song was "Bridge Attack" and it was what the prince had chosen for his own dueling song. But in a riverdance _agni kai_, the same song couldn't be used by both dancers.

As Iroh nearly did the splits in a three-foot jump, the prince scuttled back to his uncle, whimpering. Bumi was sitting up looking alert and smart.

"He stole your song. I guess he _was_ cheating," the earthbender consented.

"What do we do?" Aang cried frantically. He eyed Iroh's unbelievably fast feet with horror. "Blur! _Blur!_" spazzed the prince. "His feet are a blur!" Bumi stomped the ground and a loose stone the size of his fist shot up and came down on Aang's head.

"Just get back out there. I've got a back up," Bumi said quickly. He stomped again and the ground beneath Aang moved him all the way back to the center of the arena faster than he could have run.

When Iroh's song was over, three airbenders held up scores: 8, 7, and 3. With a growl, Iroh set the low scorer on fire and he was quickly replaced with another airbender.

Aang's song was "American Wake," though the title puzzled everyone ("What's an American?" many soldiers asked one another). The song was also completely new to the prince, but he started bouncing, then jumping, then shuffling his feet on the beat… mostly. He added a couple of sashés, the robot, and an incredibly long head spin, and by the end of the song, Bumi was not only not watching, but he was doing almost everything possible to not watch. Currently, he was in his dirt chair knitting a sandy scarf with rock needles. The prince was far too dizzy to see his score, which was 6, 6, and 7. But after a concentrated quake from Bumi and after the scorers had picked up the cards again, Aang had a 9, a sideways 6, and an L.

Iroh stomped over to his opponent, glowering. "I think you cheated somehow!" he declared. A collective gasp came from the soldiers watching. Aang was too dizzy to retort and just flopped on the ground, ordering everyone to stop spinning. Bumi popped up next to the commodore.

"What? Cheating? _My_ nephew? Never!" he shouted. "Have you no honor? Have you no _shame_?"

Iroh raised a brow. "Shame in accusing Prince Aang of cheating?"

"No!" retorted Bumi, waving his hands wildly. "You haven't put your shirt back on, even though your song's been over for how long now– have you no shame?"

"You don't have a shirt!" the commodore argued. The earthbender flexed his muscles.

"Yeah, well, at least _I_ look good." Aang started crawling to his feet then and tugged on Bumi's arm.

"Nej'rvaaak, mik mik," he mumbled, still dizzy. His uncle began leading him back towards the ship.

"You're still cheaters!" Iroh called after them.

"You're still ugly!" cried Bumi. With a scowl, Iroh went to put his shirt back on.

----

Somehow with the fierce wind, Sokka managed to wrap his grappling hook around Zuko's ankle and reel him down. The Water Tribe boy then laid him on the snow-covered ground.

"It's okay, man, we know how you feel," Sokka said as the wind began to calm. Katara gave an alarmed cry.

"Hey! Keep me outta this!" Sokka continued, unbothered.

"We lost our mom to firebenders… so it's kinda the same. They were in cahoots with the airbenders. But there's nothing that can be done. Move on. Go west, young man."

Zuko sniffled, the wind now completely died down and the bright blue fading from his scar and eyes. "Ozai… he was like a father to me. The strange, bordering abusive father I never had."

Katara peeked her head into the room a little more. "You miss him that much that you're crying?" she said in a more accusatory voice than anything else. Zuko shook his head slightly.

"No… that rope just really hurt my ankle." As Sokka quickly untied the grappling hook, Zuko looked at the siblings. "So… are you guys my family now?" Katara instantly gave a start.

"Evil!!" she shrieked and ran completely from the tent. Sokka gave a shake of his head.

"Of course we are. You're my brother now. And Katara… can be some distant cousin or something. The expendable people in the family, y'know."

----

Awhile later, Zuko stood in the sanctuary, his eyes glued on Avatar Toph. The siblings came in and stood behind him, Katara incessantly tapping her foot.

"How is Toph supposed to help me if I can't talk to her?" he mused out loud.

"Was she ever supposed to help you in the first place?" questioned Katara quickly. "She's kinda dead."

"In my flashback a couple scenes ago, Ozai told me that when I was old enough to enter the sanctuary here, I'd find the person who would be able to guide me… and it's gotta be her," Zuko replied, completely missing the girl's snarkiness.

"We must not have seen that part," Sokka said with a raised brow. Zuko laughed.

"Of course not. It scares me how much you know about the Avatar business… at least this way, I knew more than you for awhile there." As he smiled on, Katara looked at him as if he were stupid, which was really the only way she looked at him.

"The simple things in life make you happy, don't they?" Zuko nodded with the same, complacent smile. All of a sudden, something darted over all the kids and a bunch of berries and a few coconuts landed on Katara's head. As she held her throbbing head, the gymnast landed on the Toph statue.

"This is war!" shrieked Katara. Sokka and Zuko instantly ran to either side of her, holding her back.

"I think she's just offering food," Sokka said quickly, watching the innocent-looking gymnast dressed all in different shades of pink.

"I wasn't hungry!"

The boys somehow coaxed Katara to leave the temple and as they were readying Roku for flight, the gymnast approached them again, carrying the food they had left in the sanctuary. When she set it down near them, she picked out a peach to eat.

"If she's gonna follow us, I say we keep her," Sokka voted, a hand raised in the air. Katara hissed. But all the boys, Roku included, seemed to like the strange, silent creature.

"She seems to like peaches," Zuko said, "so I'll name her… Ty Lee."

The only reason Katara consented to letting Ty Lee join the group was that since four people were too much for Roku to carry, Katara could be allowed to fly alone or carry Ty Lee. Once that proposition was made, the Water Tribe girl welcomed Ty Lee to the group with open arms. Zuko and Sokka climbed on Roku and with Ty Lee perched on Katara's back, the group flew from the Southern Fire Temple into the twilight sky.

----

Fin.

If you go to iTunes and search their riverdancing songs, they really do have those two songs. I like them, but am way too cheap to fork over $2 for them. And did anyone recognize the dragon with one arm? If not, you should visit homestarrunner. com sometime… Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I wanted to post this yesterday, but it wasn't done in time. So the Day After Christmas is still _like_ Christmas, right? Reviews would be jolly. :3


End file.
